


Bitter Behind Her Teeth

by apartment



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Scene, F/F, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-29 19:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20087344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apartment/pseuds/apartment
Summary: Alternate-ish scene of distorted Catra and Adora fighting and falling, at the end of the perfect world. They were probably hurting.She wanted to ruin everything Adora had ever held close and dance on the ashes in front of her broken, stupid, teary blue eyes. Catra wanted to reach her claws through Adora’s chest and rip out her heart, so maybe she’d understand what made her tick, so maybe she'd finally have her.





	Bitter Behind Her Teeth

After Adora had left her again, when Catra crawled painfully through the broken beams of the world and ached for and spat at the perfect memories that had never been, she was limping. After a while, walking through the forest, trawling through bushes that would disappear in a moment, the twinge in her foot wore off, or she got used to it. She’d found Adora, laughed herself hoarse, taunted her, dragged her by her hair through the places that stung the most, and now they were here. She needed that foot now; Adora didn’t have the sword, but she was a dangerous fighter. 

“So that's it then?” Adora yelled. She was angry, and her face was red, like her jacket, like Catra's skinsuit, as red as Catra was feeling, too. Her dumb hair had come partially undone and was now hanging onto her forehead. “You're just gonna let the world end? For what? For _ me_?” 

Catra yowled, screeched it high and astounded and shrill. “You?” she repeated. She wished she could say she was surprised at Adora thinking everything was about her. It's not like it wasn't justified. Everything in Adora's life had always revolved around her, Catra included. But not anymore. “_You_?!” she yelled this time. “What about _ me_?! Me! You always think it's about you but it's not. If I want the world to end, then, well, it'll end! _ Me_, Adora. _ I'm _ doing this. I'm the one who pulled the switch. _ I _ did it!” 

“Yeah, I _ know_!” Adora shouted back. “It’s _ not _ about me. _ You _ make it about me. You always say it’s my fault, but it’s not. I didn’t make you do this. I didn’t make you do anything, _ ever_! You followed me around like a stray and then blamed it all on me when you couldn’t keep up. If this is how you want it to be, _ fine_! That's why I’m gonna stop you, and _fix_ this!” 

Catra had never seen her this furious, and that was more of a shock than the actual words Adora said. Even when they'd fought, Adora had never looked like she'd wanted to hurt Catra, which made clawing at her both better and worse. But her face betrayed no hesitation now, and her words were sharpened to rip Catra apart. She was stunned. A bare moment later, Adora was lunging, her arms wrapping around Catra's middle to throw them both to the ground. 

Catra's elbow jolted painfully in its socket, and the contact rippled through her arm. Her head hit the ground hard, too, snapping back with the impact. She hissed in pain, disoriented, and blindly lashed out. She connected her heel with Adora’s stomach and kicked mightily, throwing her off with a solid heel, then rolled over to rise to her feet. Catra bent her knees and her tail flicked, readying to pounce. But Adora was prepared for her and knew all her tricks. There was no way Catra could win. She dodged Adora’s incoming kick, landing crouched, low to the ground and eyes narrowed. She had few options, but the world was crumbling around them, and she couldn’t flee. 

She didn't want it to end like this. But Adora had hurt her, and every inch of Catra ached with it. She wanted to see Adora suffer. She'd thought that making Adora see Catra's injuries would be enough, the way it was when Adora would look guilty and upset if Catra had a mere scratch. But Adora wasn't her Adora anymore; she was She-Ra, and she was more indignant and pretentious and stronger than ever. She didn't care that she was hurting Catra. Adora was miles away and already gone, and Catra had been left behind in cold, metal walls and sharper betrayal. 

Catra knew the taste of defeat intimately. If she couldn't hurt Adora by making her regret what she'd done, she'd just have to beat that bile-filled, sour, bloody taste into her face. She flexed her claws, tracked the subtle shift of Adora’s feet, and leaped again. This time she landed her hit, swiping a deep and satisfying set of lines from Adora’s shoulder to collarbone. It tore through the fabric of her jacket and shirt, and as Adora yelped, immediately welled a lush red. Adora clutched at it, her teeth bared in a snarl, and Catra felt her lips turn up. 

She wanted to hurt Adora so badly, she wanted to see her in pain. She wanted to ruin everything Adora had ever held close and shake the ashes of it in front of her broken, stupid, teary blue eyes. Catra wanted to reach her claws through Adora’s chest and rip out her heart, so maybe she’d understand what made her tick, maybe she’d finally have her. And then she’d abandon Adora there, laying on the forest floor with her chest hanging half out while the world ended, and walk away and feel the power of it thrumming through her.

She’d captured Adora once, but it wasn’t enough. Catra shifted her stance, breathing heavily. Her bad arm ached, and her good arm was blackened and felt out of place, like a shiver, even though it didn’t hurt. She peered at Adora carefully, the red rivulets seeping between her fingers and onto her wrist. Without her sword, Adora was nothing. Catra sneered. They should all be sorry, every single one of them, for leaving her behind and never believing in her. Look what she’d managed to do. Look what she would do now. 

Catra growled, flexed her thighs, and pushed into a leap. Where she expected her feet to spring off the ground, there was nothing. The world sank almost all at once, the dirt and grass grumbling into a bright and shattered glow. Her foot slipped into a rift between pieces of the forest floor, bending at an odd and agonizing angle, but she still managed to scramble atop the boulder that remained floating. It placed her precariously close to Adora, who was staring at her with wide eyes, still holding her shoulder. All around them, rocks were falling. 

Neither of them moved. There was no point in pushing each other over; in a moment, the ground beneath them would give, and they’d fall to their dooms in the distorted anomaly of this world. Maybe Catra should have listened to Entrapta and Scorpia. She felt a small pang thinking about Scorpia, but it was too late now. She shook it off. Catra had no room for regret when she was so filled with throbbing, inflating triumph. She felt vindictive, and she deserved to be. She hadn’t gotten to this point alone. For all Adora wanted to blame Catra, she was just as much at fault: Adora had been the one to leave. 

Catra staggered an inch closer. She could make out every eyelash of Adora’s, chapped skin on her lips, and the smooth skin of her cheek where a scar should have been and probably had been healed by the sword. She’d had and been everything Catra had wanted, wanted to be, and wanted to touch. Here they were, at the end of the world, together. When the ground dissolved, Catra didn’t reach out to Adora, and she watched Adora watch her as they drifted apart. Adora didn’t reach out, either. So that was that, Catra thought. She’d done it, and without Adora, too. 

**Author's Note:**

> [/apartmented on tumblr](http://apartmented.tumblr.com)  
[@inviq on twitter](http://twitter.com/inviq)  
please come talk to me about she-ra i am DYING


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